Marriage Certificate, Private Will and Political Testament of Adolf Hitler

12/7/1934 - 1/20/1966

This item contains a letter from Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson to President Harry Truman, the certificate of marriage between Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, the private will of Adolf Hitler, a letter from Martin Bormann, and the political testament of Adolf Hitler. The private will concerns the distribution of the property of Adolf Hitler. The letter from Martin Bormann, private secretary of Adolf Hitler, is to Admiral Karl Dönitz, and it transfers the political testament of Adolf Hitler to the custody of Dönitz. The political testament discusses Hitler's political motivations and stresses his reluctance to create war. The political testament also provides for his political succession. Also included are English translations of the marriage certificate, the private will, and the political testament.

Additional details from our exhibits and publications

In the early morning of April 29, 1945, as Soviet troops closed in on his bunker, Adolf Hitler married his longtime companion Eva Braun. Less than 40 hours after their marriage, the newlyweds committed suicide together. In his will, Hitler states that Eva “goes to death with me as my wife, according to her own desires.” Marriage certificate: In this volume is Adolf and Eva Hitler’s marriage certificate signed by them and by witnesses Joseph Goebbels and Martin Bormann, as well as the registrar of marriage they pulled in from Berlin just before 1am to perform the ceremony. Final will and testament: Also in this volume is Adolf Hitler’s final will and political testament, signed by him and by witnesses Joseph Goebbels, Martin Bormann, and Lt. Col. Nicholaus von Below. This was created and made official the night he married Eva Braun. Three copies were made and sent out of Berlin.

This primary source comes from the National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized.

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